Salaries and Costs of Living in Ukraine

Due to rapid adjustments in exchange rates, the dollar value of Ukrainian salaries and costs of living changed dramatically in 2013-2015.

Can you live on $50/month in your country? In Ukraine, you can.

(Read the report on the actual trial below.)

Changes in Ukrainian Salaries (in USD)

The dollar value of an average Ukrainian salary dropped about 2 times since mid-2013, due to the exchange rate fluctuations: 49-62% depending on the region.

The hryvnia value of wages slightly increased at the same time.

The map below demonstrates how the average salary changed by the region since June 2013.

The average income per person during this period decreased in Ukraine from US $429 to $200, reported KP.ua.

Salaries in Kiev are still the highest in the country: 6900 hryvnia/month ($314) in 2015 as compared to 5238 hryvnia/month ($655) in 2013.

Termopil and Chernivtsy have the lowest salaries, nearly 1/3 lower than on average country-wide.

Values of salaries in Ukraine in 2015 (USD), by region — click to enlarge. (Graphics: KP.ua)

Costs of Living in Ukraine

Prices for goods and services increased as the value of hryvnia, the local Ukrainian currency, dropped.

Costs of living in Ukraine increased since 2013.

17 September 2015 Ukrainian Rada approved a raise in the official minimum of the costs of living from 1176 to 1330 hryvnia/month, and the minimum salary from 1218 to 1378 hryvnia/month. The changes will be implemented from 1 December 2015.

Accordingly, the minimum hourly wages changed from 7.29 to 8.25 hryvnia ($0.33 to $0.38 per hour).

Official minimum costs of living for different categories of people (per month):

Children 0-5 years old: 1167 hryvnia ($53)

Children 6-17: 1455 hryvnia ($67)

Adults 18+: 1374 hryvnia ($63)

Disabled: 1074 hryvnia ($49)

What Professionals Think

Andrey Vigiringsky, the deputy director of the company “Public Audit”, stated that their calculations were made on the basis of the factual costs of living and inlfation, in order to match the standards of in 2013, reported, reported Finance.ua.

According to “Public Audit”, the minimum salary should be 2487 hryvnia/month, and pensions 1938 hryvnia/month.

Economist Andrey Martynyuk agrees that the minimum salary should be at least 2,500 hryvnia/month.

Kiev’s lawyer Stanislav Batrin believes that the costs of living should be raised to 7,000 hryvnia/month within 3 years.

According to UBS rating released in September 2015, Kiev is the cheapest capital in the world to live in. The report published by the bank states that a family needs $1237/month to get by in the Ukrainian capital, with the further $540 required to pay the rent. (Those numbers are substantially higher than what locals actually live on.) Kiev is also at the bottom of wage charts by UBS.

Video Report: How I Lived on The Minimum Salary for 30 Days

Dmitry Chistyakov, a reporter of the Ukrainian TV show “Utro” (“Morning”) lived for a month on the minimum salary, which is currently 1218 hryvnia (around US $50).

Dmitry Chistyakov lived for 30 days on the minimal Ukrainian salary of 1218 hryvnia (US$50). By the end of the month, he had 23.81 hryvnia left (around $1).

He managed to survive on this amount, and even had 23 hryvnia left at the end, which happened because of unexpected savings on bills. He had no food left at home.

However, his conclusion was, “You cannot live like this, you can barely survive”.

Half of his “salary” allowance the journalist allocated to paying for electricity and communal services for his apartment, which he owns, and purchasing a monthly travel pass for public transport. Chistyakov purchased the pass for 200 hryvnia ($9.17), and left 400 ($18.35) for bills at the end of the month.

An unexpected health problem, a strained ankle, forced him to fork out 100 hryvnia ($4.59), which he had to spend on buying the cheapest bandage in a pharmacy. The trip to the doctor was covered by the medical insurance.

Chistyakov lived mostly on vegetable soups, breads, and porridges, forced to purchase the cheapest (damaged) vegetables in the markets, in order to fit in his monthly budget.

300 hryvnia ($14) was spent on food in 1 month. He cooked his meals himself.

The reporter lost 10 kg (22 lbs) during the month.

“I am happy that the experiment is finished,” the brave writer announced at the end. “I don’t feel very well.”

“What am I going to feed you? Let’s make some porridge.”

His dog was another expense that he realized was unaffordable for a person on a minimal salary. For 2 weeks his friends were looking after the dog, but the last weeks he had to feed the dog by himself. This forced him to save even more on his own meals.

The same with dating: The single guy could only afford to take his date for a walk or watch a free movie in a park.

“It’s OK now, but what do you do when it becomes colder and starts raining?” he asked.

Buying drinks or even a coffee in a cafe would be unaffordable, he concluded.

Dmitry managed to purchase 2 shirts (10 hryvnia each) at a second hand shop. “To buy warmer clothing, one would have to save for months,” he stated.

Interesting article. It makes you think about possibly retiring there since a North American salary in retirement could go a long way . Maybe 6 months in the Ukraine and six months at home in Canada. Vacations also would be a great option. Thanks for the great information.

Larry,
Indeed, it does make you thinking.
There are sizable groups of expatriates that live in Kiev, Lviv, and Odessa.
Many women own their apartments in Ukraine, so if you meet someone, it wouldn’t be difficult to arrange.

This is good news but do you accept we Brits if we are warm and caring people too. I have a beautiful Latin girlfriend with whom I wish to be with in a more rural part of Yucatan outside the Miami of Cancun…

Their seems to be some confusion in this blog between Hryvnia and USD which leaves me the reader confused. For example “17 September 2015 Ukrainian Rada approved a raise in the official minimum of the costs of living from 1176 to 1330 hryvnia/month, and the minimum salary from 1218 to $1378 hryvnia/month. ” Please can you explain. The main thing seen though is that is beneficial to me a foreigner from the UK to consider in living there with a partner from the Ukraine; a very big plus and it will encourage many men.

About living in Ukraine, check websites for expatriates living in Ukraine. I live in Australia. Please make your own research and judgements. My specialization is online dating, and if you have questions about dating Russian or Ukrainian women, I may be able to provide my opinion.

zvi,
And how do you imagine this setup?
Describe it, I am really curious.
The Ukrainian woman needs to buy her own tickets and arrive with her luggage to your doorstep, and of course never ever ask for any money, find a day job and pay for herself, and at nights cook you food, clean the house, and entertain you physically? 😀

Guest,
It’s perfectly possible. In your dreams 😉
In reality, it takes a lot of time, efforts, and courage from both of you, as well as minimum $7-10K on tickets, visa application and other government fees related to relocation.Read this: Costs of dating: Local vs. International.

Not only the general level matters. Everything depends on a person, the way of living. Some people think that they have enough money and spend not much. But other people can spend great sums everywhere: in the capitals, in any country and also in the Ukraine.

The underground economy in Ukraine is huge, and that distorts these figures. Even street musicians in Kiev can make pick up a few hundred UAH per day, or $10 to $20/day, or $300 to $600/month. Nobody drops kopecks in their boxes, its always bills and the lowest bill is 1 hryvnia. Same thing for plumbers and other blue collar workers. They all get paid off the books and can easily make $500/month in Kiev. Salaries are low for jobs like teachers and nurses, but they can easily get a huge boost to their salaries by taking unreported cash payments for… Read more »

Frank, you are perfectly right. Oficial statistics and real life isn’t the same thing and nobody lives on the minimal Ukrainian salary. And some information for future expatriates. I live in a second biggest city in Ukraine. I own a two-bedroom flat and pay for eat almost $100, internet and mobal phones about $15, food, eating out, takeaways about $600 (I am vegetarian), gym, going out, theatres – about $150, my son rents one-bedroom flat for $300, car – $100-200 per month. we don’t go to a state hospital so spend a great sums on medicine. Last month I bought… Read more »

Larry Saloff, Realistically, you will not be able to comfortably retire in Ukraine without a decent knowledge of the Russian or Ukrainian languages. Although most people in Ukraine are able to comprehend English, not too many are fluent. You will also be paying a lot more than what the locals pay for practically everything because from the moment the people that you are doing business with hear you speak English, you will end up paying more for most places. You will need to very vigilant and use a lot of common sense. Russian/Ukrainian people are the most intuitive people and… Read more »

Useful and very interesting information. One caveat though: in my experience, living costs for locals and expats are often wildly different. Expats often end up paying an extra premium on many things, such as rent and services, simply because they are expats. But the main difference is if you socialize with other expats, and do the expat circuit (drinks in the Irish pub or an international hotel, invites out to dinner at an international restaurant, coffee with your friend who works at the embassy, etc), you end up spending vastly more than local people. Of course, you can completely ignore… Read more »

Charles,
You are right – I also have a lot of Russian and Ukrainian (Russian-speaking) friends, living in Australia. It’s quite hard to be completely removed from your native culture and it helps to socialize with other expats.

From official report it look like that hell awaits, consumer price inflation – 39.3% and real wages decline – 23.7%. Sad, it is nice country and people and custom similar to us in Serbia.
http://www.me.gov.ua/Documents/Detail?lang=en-GB&id=e6b1a6c2-016b-4c37-8873-e482487c6731

This seems very interesting. I have met people from Poland and they seem so friendly. Not to mention the women are gorgeous! I have considered starting an online business in the United States and working. Then moving to a country like Poland where I can live really well by working from the computer and passive income. One day.

Deividas,
We actually had a couple where the husband was from a Baltic country (Lithuania or Estonia) and the wife was from Uzbekistan. So, I think it’s quite possible for a Lithuanian guy to meet a nice girl in Ukraine.

Former Soviet Union had many Asian nations with their own autonomous republics. Ukraine, for example, has a large number of Criman Tatars, who have Asian descent as a nation. Asians are an integral part of those countries’ national make up.

Obviously dating a Ukrainian girl more then likely it’s important to help her out. Money wise for bills school Or whatever. I’m cool with that I’ve lived all over the world and it feels nice to be able to help out. I have no problem sharing. I don’t feel like I’m paying a girl to be with me. I’m usually wanted by girls not for the money. I very easily approachable and very easy to get along with. My question is what kind of allowance is good to make sure you can give to help out. Obviously it’s different for… Read more »

Travis,
I am not sure what you mean by allowance. In normal relationships guys in Ukraine don’t give any money to women, they simply pay bills during the short courtship stage and then quickly start hanging together at home, which is basically free. If you want a “sugar daddy – sugar baby” type of relationship, or as Ukrainians would call it, “being a sponsor”, it will depend on the girl you find for such an arrangement. But this site is not the right place for that, our ladies want a normal relationship and hopefully a family, not a sugar daddy.

I have had a great deal if experience dating Ukrainian ladys. I have found that most girls are very shy about accepting money at first. But, soon after they can become rather demanding. It has been my observation that even a “good girl” can become greedy if she is lavishly treated in the beginning of a relationship. Elena is right when she says most girls simply want a good relationship with a decent man. But many of us foreigners create our own problems. My advice is to not try to wow a girl by showing how much you can give… Read more »

Hi, my name is Viktor and I am from Bulgaria. I am living in Poland and I am planning to go to Lviv soon for 1 week. How much money do I need there? I planning to take around 100-150 euros? Is that enough?

Viktor,
How much money you need depends on what you are going to do there. Think how much you would need in Poland and it should be enough. Normally they advise foreigners to have about USD $200 per day for expenses, plus costs of accommodation. Because you most likely won’t be cooking yourself or using public transport as local do.

Just to show what a current situation in Ukraine is like I can give you a brief example: I used to date a Swede for some time. He was a simple guy, working here for some company. In his early 20s for sure he hadn’t made much fortune, but being extravagant in terms of money was perfectly fine for him. Paying for me whenever we went wasn’t even a problem for him, as he said, just because an average ticket to the theatre cost less than 4 euros! They might spend even more for a simple bus ticket in their… Read more »

Sorry Elena, but I think that posting such articles isn’t a good idea because the official data in it has no common with real life. After reading such kind of information some people think that life here is very cheap and they can travel to Ukraine with just 100-150 euros

Elena I am very interested in meeting a girl from the Ukraine I have met one sorry not on your site but she seems real and nice has not asked for anything. She has a daughter she is 27 and I really like her. My question is how do I know its real or if its the site just trying to get me to spend money. Also I am not old like most of the men she says email her lol but I read so much about how its all a scam I am confused I mean I have no… Read more »

Ryan,
Are you being charged ever time you send a mail, chat, or share a photo? If yes, search for “The ugly truth about PPL dating sites“.
In short, if you are paying for every message, then most likely all you read is fake and it’s all to make you spend more money. Especially if the girl is from Odessa, Kharkiv or Zaporizhia.

Interesting! I enjoyed reading your article. Am from Asia, traveled a lot, a consultant -Oil/Gas. I have a girlfriend, nice lady from Lugansk. We have been on, for couple months. Through my research I like Ukrainian culture specially for women, one of the best… but I am wondering if I marry, later on find a problem & desires a divorce. How does it treated in Ukraine?

Jess,
Why are you worried about a divorce (or even marriage) if you don’t even know if this relationship with a Ukrainian girl is for real? 🙂
Have you met in person? Kissed? Held hands? Made love? I guess not. Don’t put the carriage in front of the horse 😉

Saurav, currently the average monthly income in Ukraine per family member is 111 US Dollars. The average monthly salary Ukraine-wide in April 2017 was 6659 hryvnia (USD $256).
Medical doctors are the category that is paid by the government, so they earn even less: Average monthly wage in Ukraine in health industry was 4718 hryvnia ($181) in April 2017.Data by Ukrstat.